


Hallways Sorry

by ERNest



Series: The Little Things [1]
Category: Company - Sondheim/Furth
Genre: Character Study, Competition, Domestic Bliss, Drinking, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-22
Updated: 2016-09-22
Packaged: 2018-08-16 17:49:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 703
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8111680
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ERNest/pseuds/ERNest
Summary: Sarah promises to get the lights, she always does.Harry hates to watch her leave but he loves to watch her go.





	

Harry looks at the light in the corridor leading to their bedroom and thinks about turning it off. Sarah always says she’ll get them, but she forgets more often than not, or she’s too sleepy to reach up for the switch, so it stays lit. he watches her go, the butt which she hates and he loves well illuminate. He _could_ switch off the light, but it’s her job, like teasing him about the drinking is her job, like ragging her about those damned women’s magazines is his.

Someday the bulb’s just going to burn out, he knows, and in the meantime they’re running up the electricity bill. The fact that he can afford it is hardly the point, the point is, who’s going to be the one to replace it when it does flicker out of its own functionality? Sarah’s the one who does things around the house to maintain an element of order, and then he’s more of a handyman, who fixes things only at their inevitable end.

~*~

Sarah really likes food. It might even be fair to say that she absolutely loves it. Before she began her diet, it was all because she just liked to eat, and she does miss that, a little, but she’s very recently found a new and even better joy in life. She is learning how to cook and loves each meal like a child, which she offers to everyone else. Nothing makes her happier than to watch one of her friends enjoying something that she has created. Perhaps if she could join darling Robert in devouring those brownies, it would be even better. Things like this are meant to be shared, after all, and she would hate for him to be lonely with this glorious chocolate dessert. But she’s strong. She can resist it!

She knows she’s not everything her husband wants. How could she be? She sometimes catches him staring out the window and she can tell he’s wishing he’s somewhere else. She can’t blame him because who _hasn’t_ wondered how things could have gone? Before he can get too melancholy, she clatters into the room and makes some joke and wraps an arm around his shoulders. Harry always laughs to see her, no matter how awful her humor and he pulls her onto his lap for a kiss. “I love you,” she whispers while they clear the floor to practice karate. He doesn’t always answer her, but she knows he feels it too. When she heads off to bed and promises to leave the light on for him, he watches her go with those wonderful eyes. For all their doubts, those are the only moments that really matter.

~*~

He loves her; of course he loves her, so why should he have to say the words? (Words mean more than just a touch could, they mean you’ve finally figured something out.) He will not say the words because words can lie; he and Sarah twist them all the time and he doesn’t want _this_ to turn into just another part of their little game of cheating together. (So instead he just leaves her hanging, waiting for a response he cannot give, until she dries her hands and turns to go to bed.)

~*~

Sarah is chunky and she’s been told so often enough that she believes it. Some well-meaning people adjust their language and call her merely pear-shaped. She doesn’t know quite _why_ it’s worse, as it’s just a description, but she cannot _stand_ the phrase. She’s not exactly fat, thought she’s aware that it’s nothing to be ashamed of if she were. But as it is, she just has a little bit of a tummy and some extra padding on her arms.

She’s not on a diet for anyone but herself. Really, she’s fine with how she is, but she wants to see how her life could change if she lives it a little healthier. Harry, bless him, goes on the wagon in some sort of solidarity. He’s truly terrible at self-restraint, even more than she is, but they both love the spice of competition it adds to their lives. And that matters so much more than their relative success in these endeavors.


End file.
